A trip to Melbourne has paid off handsomely for Private Eye, who produced a dominant front-running display in the Group 2 P B Lawrence Stakes (1400m) at Caulfield.

Trainer Joe Pride bypassed the rain-affected Missile Stakes in Sydney, instead targeting Caulfield, where the $3.10 favourite powered home under Nash Rawiller to score by two lengths over Desert Lightning, with Here To Shock third.

Recently turned eight, Private Eye was having just his second run of 2025 after finishing third in the Stradbroke Handicap. Pride said residual fitness and sharp trials had the gelding primed.

“He’s an amazing athlete and that was his 13th interstate trip,” Pride said. “It would easily be the lightest he has been raced in some time and maybe that has something to do with his good form at the moment.”

The Group 1 Memsie Stakes later this month is under consideration, though Pride said track conditions would dictate the plan.